GHOSTS 2026 Calendars, The Great War & A Time Remembered

by Philip Makanna

US photographer/publisher Phil Makanna has once again dipped into his archive to gather images for his well-received WWI (The Great War) and II (A Time Remembered) aircraft calendars featuring air-to-air photography.  

Air-to-air obviously means actual flying, with at least two aircraft, with the camera ship having to have flight characteristics compatible with the aircraft being photographed. Add to that piloting skills, and obviously camera skills, and you have a set of complexities ordinary mortals would be hard-pressed to field on their own. Here, for the price of, oh, 3–4 gallons of avgas, you can live vicariously from the comfort of your armchair.

The owner of this Albatros is the Fantasy of Flight collection which aircraft folk know to be in Florida (their chief Kermit Weeks at the controls). But this shot is taken in England, so how do those dots connect??

Again, and as they should, the 2026 version follows the established format in regards to size and presentation/design. Printed on sturdy, glossy 20″ x 14″ (open 20″ x 28″) stock the images are large enough to showcase lovely detail and atmospherics. The calendars have reinforced mounting holes on the inside front cover to facilitate hanging and prevent sagging/bowing. (You’d be surprised how easy it is to get things like this wrong!) 

Nobody needs to see another B-17. What’s special and so very apropos about this photo is the location it’s overflying, the 3,811 American war dead in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial at Madingley near Duxford, England.

People who aren’t just casual “lookers” will appreciate that the first interior page, the one preceding the actual calendar portion, discloses owner, pilot/operator and location, but no date. This will have the occasionally jarring effect of seeing names of people who you know are no longer among us. Country of origin is also not listed and while just about all the machines shown will be recognizable by the casual observer something like, say, a Hanriot will surely lead to creative guessing. The captions on the actual calendar pages identify the aircraft by type/variant so you have a jumping-off point for further reading elsewhere.

The spatial relationships in this photo are easy to misread because of the shadow below the undercarriage; it’s made by a hedge way below on the ground.

Don’t just look at the pretty pictures, read the specs too. And don’t just read the specs, think about what you’re reading. The service ceiling of the 1917 Albatros D.Va shown at the top is given as 9,840 ft which would make it the lowest by far of any of the aircraft of similar type and age in this calendar. It’s incorrect. Harumph. Speaking of specs, the data block (which also includes a 3-view) is the only place—and only in the WWI calendar—where an aircraft’s model year is listed. As they are not shown in chronological order, newbies may find this a bit unhelpful, not least if you consider that the WWII calendar includes several biplanes which were of course still in service but very much on the way to retirement. But, this is not an encyclopedia so let’s not get hung up on this.

Something you don’t see every day: The Russians are coming! Stand down; these Polikarpovs are from The Alpine Fighter Collection of New Zealand.

In previous years we made a point of drawing attention to the fact that both the aircraft details and the backgrounds (mostly landscapes) were each of uncanny sharpness. From a technical point of view (camera lens, focus, speed) this is not easy to achieve, usually requiring prioritizing one parameter at the expense of others. At this point it is necessary to add the reminder that the aircraft shown may well have been photographed years even decades ago which implies different stages of camera technology but this particular edition has images that almost all have backgrounds so soft that they may well be called unsharp. Doesn’t really matter, but photography nerds will notice, and wonder.

How sharp is sharp? You can read the lettering on the tires. Landscape textures, not so much.

Makanna has produced these calendars for decades now, along with a few books, but unless you were to sit down with him you’ll not glean much insight into the technical side of his work. Even, or especially, at the proud age of 85 he knows stuff that is other-level; how much you can “learn” from merely looking at his work depends on what you yourself bring to the table.

If you need to decorate your hangar, Makanna still has some 2025 calendars lying around: $10 each! Older editions can easily be sourced on the interweb.

The Great War calendar shows:

Curtiss JN-4H “Jenny”
Sopwith Pup, Snipe, Triplane, Tabloid
Royal Aircraft Factory RE.8 and FE.2b
Fokker D.VIII
Bristol F.2B Fighter
Albatros D.Va
Hanriot HD.1
Pfalz D.III

A Time Remembered calendar shows:

North American P-51D “Mustang” and B-25D “Mitchell”
Gloster “Gladiator” with Hawker “Hind”
Boeing B-17G  “Flying Fortress”
Curtiss P-40M “Kittyhawk”
Supermarine “Seafire” F XVII
Consolidated PBY-5A “Catalina”
Republic P-47D “Thunderbolt”
Naval Aircraft Factory N3N “Canary”
Vaught (Goodyear) FG-1D “Corsair”
Ryan STM-2
Polikarpov I-16 with I-153

Copyright 2025, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).

GHOSTS 2026 Calendar, The Great War

by Philip Makanna

GHOSTS, 2025

List Price: $19.99 + $10 shipping

ISBN 13: 978-0-916997-73-1

and

GHOSTS 2026 Calendar, A Time Remembered

by Philip Makanna

GHOSTS, 2025

List Price: $19.99 + $10 shipping

ISBN 13: 978-0-916997-74-8